“We can’t think of anyone we would trust more with our real estate purchases and sales.”

We’ve known Yvonne for almost 10 years and have worked with her buying and selling homes 6 times. We can’t think of anyone we would trust more with our real estate purchases and sales. She is a top-notch professional, ethical and knowledgeable. 

In addition to her years of experience and the breadth of skill, she is a marketing guru. She knows how to present a property beautifully, in its best light. Her staging skills make any property shine. She puts a lot of effort into having everything perfect and its clear this attention to detail helps her clients earn the highest prices for their properties. Her marketing materials are also just as high-end and feel luxurious to the prospective buyers at any price point. 

Besides the technicalities of selling real estate, she knows how to close a sale. Working well with other people is a strong point and her cooperative nature stands out. She is able to troubleshoot and solve problems in sensible ways, minimizing risk and exposure to her clients. There are lots of things that can and do go wrong in a real estate transaction. Yvonne simply faces these things one at a time, head on and deals with them. Low stress, low fuss, just get it handled. She is very patient and that helps us, as clients, get through one of the most stressful and hectic times for us.

In our last transaction, we had an exceptionally good end result, though there were a lot of issues with the buyers’ lender. We were able to get the highest sale price ever in our neighborhood, and even though the house did not appraise for the sale price. Yvonne was able to ensure through the negotiations that the buyer would put in the extra funds. It seemed touch and go, at times, but Yvonne stayed positive and confident and that helped a lot. We hope Yvonne wins this award. She is a deserving candidate and great realtor. 

• Patsy & Joe Fala, Buyers and Sellers in Honolulu

“Amazing conflict resolver, therapist, designer, technologist, communicator and negotiator with exceptional integrity and passion”

Yvonne exceeded our expectations on every turn, with her attention to detail, exceptional knowledge of the market and transaction process, and even putting her own interest aside for the interest of us. Yvonne began the process by setting expectations on how the process would go, and prepared us well for our journey of selling our house. Her expectations were detailed, realistic, and turned out to be 100% accurate, down the exact amount the house would sell for. Amazing! …

This is the third transaction we’ve used Yvonne for, and I couldn’t think of anyone better to take care of my largest asset. She has impeccable design taste. Her marketing skills are like magic. The pictures and videos were amazing, and we received one of the highest per square foot prices ever in Enchanted Lake. She is an amazing conflict resolver, therapist, designer, technologist, communicator and negotiator with exceptional integrity and passion for her customer, her business, and her profession.

 — Kris & Martina Harms

“She followed through on every promise, paying attention to every detail large or small.”

Yvonne went far above and beyond the average realtor in helping me sell my mother’s waterfront home in Hawaii Kai. And all of this occurred during a very trying time in my life, dealing with loss and other family issues, so her extra assistance was very helpful to me. She knew better than I did what needed to be done to maximize the sale and gave me spot-on recommendations that ultimately proved to be right. In a very short time, I realized I had the best realtor I could have wished for. She followed through on every promise, paying attention to every detail large or small. As a business owner myself, I knew to what lengths she was going through to see this project through to the end. She got me through a lot of rough patches. She made so many things easier. Simply put, she was amazing.

— Lynne Hart

“I found it extraordinary that I could completely trust my realtor from 9,000 miles away!”

Mine was a challenging situation. I was an absentee home owner (trustee). The house needed a complete remodeling before it could be put on the market. And, it was unoccupied, which meant there needed to be someone to look after the property (which included a pool), as well. Yvonne stepped up to the plate as property manager, worked closely with our contractor to jointly fill the role of project manager and then took over as realtor seamlessly.

Ours was a custom designed/built home, that was going to appeal to a very specific buyer. Yvonne took the time to research the style of home, and during the renovations, worked to preserve the integrity of the mid-century style. Our family was the original and only owner, and this gave us confidence that respect was being shown for the sentimentality and attachment we had to our childhood home. Throughout the entire marketing process, Yvonne was committed to being personally involved with every on-site interaction concerning potential buyers. Her attention to detail included preparation of the property before every showing. And while we did hire staging services, Yvonne staged the bedrooms, patio and pool areas herself, displaying her breadth of talent and as well as her willingness to invest in staging inventory.

There were many serious ups and downs with the offers and almost-sales. Throughout, she maintained a positive, roll- up-your-sleeves and get back to work attitude. While our family could have become seriously discouraged, we took our cues from her and tried to persevere with patience. She kept her finger on the pulse of our particular market niche to ensure that the plan we were following was always viable one. We appreciated that she never pressured us to use aggressive price slashing as a sales strategy. In the end, both buyer and seller were extremely happy with the final agreement.

Yvonne demonstrated integrity throughout. The detail she insisted on in the disclosure statement is a good example. She often had to return to her roots as a lawyer to close up gaps in clarity or to follow through with contract or trust issues that arose. As a long distance seller, I found it extraordinary that I could completely trust my realtor from 9,000 miles away. Her willingness and ability to stay in close touch with me was the key to that trust. She was always forthcoming with updates, feedback and information, and I never hesitated to contact her as well. She offered boutique style personalized realtor services while still providing all the advantages of up-to-date technology. She is committed to detail, efficient, energetic, and completely worthy of the Aloha ‘Aina Realtor Award.

– Sandy Shimabukuro & Family

“One of the Most Ethical People We Have Encountered.”

She sold our house with a back up offer (both over asking price) in the first day and we closed with her on the new house (our third in a year with her) so that we were able to move from the first property to the second smoothly, due to special arrangements she organized with the new buyers and sellers. The house we wanted was extremely challenging to finance and Yvonne figured out a way to do it, working closely with our mortgage company to make it happen. She is always available, responsive, resourceful, connected and extremely well-informed. She is a pleasure to work with. Yvonne is fair, honest and one of the most ethical people we have ever encountered.

- Klaus Knoll

“Agent Who Has Her Client’s Interests at Heart”

Yvonne advised us to neogtiate more aggressively than we originally planned. Her strategy worked.  It’s the first time frankly, when a realtor has advised me to offer less that I intended as a starting point for the negotiation, and that to me is the true and undisputed mark of a buyer’s agent who has her client’s interests at heart.  When the time came to make our offer, rather than pushing us into the deal, Yvonne took the time to go with us through all the negatives the house had.  She wanted to make sure that we (a) thoroghly understood these negatives and (b) we were comfortable with them. Once again, this was a truly exceptional proof of her objectivity and professional integrity.

- Radu & Ana Bacioiu

“She always listened to what we wanted.”

Yvonne was always available and worked around our schedule…She always listened to what we wanted and found homes that met our basic criteria. Even so, frustrating to us, for quite a while, there were no homes that we liked enough to offer on. However, Yvonne never gave up hope and was always patient and willing to give her time. Above all, our realtor has exceptional integrity…We always trusted her and it was clear that she was always looking out for our best interest, not her own interest in just making the sale. We would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a great realtor.

- Lt. Col. & Mrs. Monbouquette, USMC

“Yvonne is a fantastic realtor and trusted friend. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a realtor who puts not only her brain, but her heart into everything she does.”

I can’t even begin to tell you how great my realtor Yvonne Ahearn is. She has helped me so much with the sale of my home this year, from handing complex issues, to working with difficult neighbors, to oiling my teak floors herself. It was a very complicated property. It is legal 2 unit, non-conforming property, up a steep hill, with difficult access and parking. When she took the listing, there was a lot of deferred maintenance to be taken care of. There was also an unresolved title and easement issue which resulted in being unable to get building permits for the property, making it harder to sell. (She was able to resolve this.) She also coordinated a full remodel of two kitchens and fully staged the property, as 3 units.

Multiple other issues popped up along the way, which Yvonne also resolved. Here are some of them: eviction of tenant who lied about not having pets; termites in the custom door (needed to be treated, removed, rebuilt); powder post beetle treatment; encroachment agreements with neighbor unwilling to meet as COVID had started; parking dispute with neighbor, getting a burned-out car towed from non-city & county property; which narrowed our access drive; without a valid title for ownership, coordination of repair of roof leak and floor to ceiling glass windows that came off track. There was much more, including two potential buyers that cancelled before we got our great buyers that purchased.

But what really struck me was her compassion in arranging for social services to start for the neighbor who was poaching water and power from my property. She met with him and police to coax him to stay off the property. But she also helped arrange for him to get medical care for some festering injuries he had, and valid ID so she could get his life back on track, as he was living in the burned out house next door to mine, essentially homeless. She befriended this man and helped him, while still making sure my property was protected. That’s what’s great about Yvonne, she has passion for her job and clients, and compassion for everyone she encounters along the way. She was a lifesaver for me, as I was in Europe during the sale. She coordinated everything with me at odd hours, so we could communicate by phone

She also gave me advice to talk to an accountant regarding some tricky capital gains issues and arranged for a date of death appraisal which I had done years ago when my husband passed, providing all the relevant property information to the appraiser. This alone saved me tens of thousands of dollars! Yvonne is still available to me whenever I need advice relating to real estate, whether on refinancing my other property or if it’s a good time to purchase or sell. I know she always has my best interest in mind and it goes without saying that she has expert knowledge about anything related to real estate and home improvements.

Yvonne is a fantastic realtor and trusted friend. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a realtor who puts not only her brain, but her heart into everything she does.

- Cella

“Presents Our Properties in the Very Best Way by Adding Her ‘Magic’”

Yvonne Ahearn has been our realtor for about 10 years and she has helped us with many purchases and sales. This year she helped us with three. There were 2 listings, and 1 home that we bought. She always goes above and beyond the average realtor, and provides the most ethical service. We appreciate Yvonne because she is very detail oriented. We know that we are in good hands and don't have to micromanage the process. Since we are both busy with our regular jobs, it is nice to know that all details are being handled by a trustworthy professional.

Yvonne presents our properties in the very best way possible by adding her "magic." That is, beautiful staging that looks so great, we sometimes want to keep the properties, instead of selling. However, this year, we had a special situation. We wanted to sell a property that we had rented out to 5 teenaged college students and it was in the middle of the pandemic before most people were vaccinated. We wanted to take part in the booming market, but the tenants were not clean and left trash all around the home. They also had not nicely decorated the home, and were not consistent about masking. They were also not easy to contact or organize because they all had different schedules. I didn't think it was feasible to sell, also because the tenants had a lot of time remaining on their lease and this was not a typical rental home.

Yvonne surprised us by being sure she could sell the property for a great price. In fact, her plan was unique - to sell it with no advance showings or open houses! No disturbance to tenants and minimal COVID exposure for everyone. We were able to get several full-price offers, immediately before even one showing. Her photos and marketing were great!

We accepted the best of the offers and showed the property to only three buyers. While it was not clear immediately which offer to choose, Yvonne knew the right one to ensure that the sale closed. There were a few hitches, due to the tenants, along the way, but we were very happy with the outcome and the timing, and the ease of selling what could have become problematic, given COVID and the tenants. The timing of all this was perfect and we are now looking for another property with Yvonne.

In the home we purchased this year, Yvonne's personal qualities really shined through. We had some unforeseen issues with our lender and had to extend the closing date several weeks beyond the original closing date. The owners of the property received a higher backup offer on the property and could have cancelled on us, since we had to start over on the loan. Yvonne's personal and negotiation skills with the sellers kept our deal alive, despite a grim initial outlook. Interpersonal skills were more important in this case, than a higher offer. We were able to purchase a wonderful property that we had equity in from the start and I think that is pretty unusual in this market.

Yvonne is a great realtor who we recommend to others and who we will use again.

- David & Nayana Campos

Several months ago, I decided to sell my Honolulu property. I had inherited this investment property from my mother when she passed away…. I soon discovered I had inherited one of the most stressful experiences of my life. My mother owned the property with a business partner who had a variety of “issues” …

Eventually, I contacted an attorney who dealt with Partition sales and he advised me to find a realtor willing to take on a challenging transaction. Yvonne Ahearn was that unique individual! She truly looked at the listing holistically. She understood the complexities of selling a rundown property, as well as the emotionally draining personal dramas that accompanied it. Yvonne quickly found out that her training as an agent would require skills including an understanding of geriatric behavior, psychology, social work and in short, enviable interpersonal skills that went way beyond selling property.

All this was exasperated by a pandemic landscape that mandated social distancing, sophisticated technological expertise & defining a series of safety measures that were unheard of prior to COVID-19. Creatively rethinking her strategy for selling my property was a seamless endeavor & even more impressive, Yvonne was able to maintain relationships with both my difficult partner and the buyers, who could have easily walked away for many reasons, under extraordinary circumstances. …

I could spend pages describing the depth of Yvonne’s work ethic, her clarity of vision in terms of real estate transactions, the skilled marketing of our property, her help dealing with a management company that was incompetent in dealing with our property (including no payments for GET in months), but it is really the human dimensions of who she is that I want to bring to the forefront here. I seldom have seen anyone bring such kindness into someone’s life … . Yes, there are many professional attributes that are compelling and important in real estate. However, Yvonne’s personal interactions with her clients have really illuminated the importance of life skills, and the ability to see the best in people. For those reasons, Yvonne Ahearn is deserving of any and all of the honors should they be bestowed upon her.

“Able to Deliver Seemingly Impossible Results Amidst Complicated Situations”

Over the last ten years working with Yvonne, Yvonne has shown extraordinary consistency in being able to deliver seemingly impossible results amidst complicated situations. In this particular case, it was an off market sale where communication began to break down and emotions started to run high. I believed that the entire deal was in jeopardy. Yvonne stepped in to manage communications on both sides, keep everyone focused on the goal of selling the house, and flawlessly managed several complicated aspects of the deal. This was when Kama'Aina pest control went under leaving tons of deals without tenting and inspection options. She also navigated tricky loan situations with lenders, arranged for in-house signing during Covid. She always makes sure the big things are done, but the attention to detail on the small things is what makes her great. What was really amazing though was her creativity in getting us into the house on-time, even when delays on the lender and title side jeopardized that. She challenged the delays and the other vendors involved to come up with a solution that would allow us to get into the house on time. The house was a perfect party house and we had planned to throw my wife's 40th there as a surprise. She delivered on those dates, and the party was a hit.

Yvonne is a very sharp woman, who has the ability to creatively troubleshoot hang ups because she simply knows ever aspect of the home buying and selling process inside and out. Wouldn't do a deal without her.

- Buyer & Seller in Kailua

“Respected in the Community and Someone who Other Agents Also Would Like to Work With”

We’ve been working with Yvonne for 12 years now and during that time she has been both an asset and a friend. During those 12 years she has helped us purchase 5 and sell 2 properties. We cannot imagine either buying or selling without Yvonne’s invaluable assistance, and we will continue to work with her for future purchases and sales.

We did not sell a home this year, but in the past, Yvonne was able to get us the highest prices ever in the neighborhood on both of our sales. Her pricing strategy is solid. And Yvonne knows how to present a property beautifully, in its best light, through both careful staging and well-crafted marketing materials. She puts a lot of effort into having everything perfect, and it’s clear this attention to detail makes for not only a successful sale, but a great overall experience for her clients.

For buying, which we did twice this year, Yvonne has a relentless/tireless spirit in finding the right property at the right price. Our interests often span the island and we are grateful to have a realtor, like Yvonne, who knows all of Oahu and not just one or two neighborhoods. Not only the location varies, but also the type of property. It is helpful to have a realtor, like Yvonne, who is comfortable with not only single-family homes, but also buildable lots and multifamily properties. Her knowledge about real estate runs the gamut and she is generous with her expertise. And she will research if she does not know the answer. She's helped us learn so much about real estate over the years.

Sometimes, we have purchased for ourselves or our family to live in the home. Other times, we are purchasing a rental property. Yvonne easily adapts knowing when to suggest a price and terms that will help ensure that we are the offer selected by the seller. She also knows those times it is just not worth overpaying, even a little, for a property we are not in love with. Though, even then, she usually accurately predicts how much over the price a property will go. In this crazy market, understanding the difference in our motivation, and knowing when and what to offer is critical. Yvonne has a keen understanding of the Oahu real estate market and what drives it. More importantly, she has empathy and understanding of the emotions that both sellers and buyers experience, during the sale process, which helps her clients immensely.

Last year, our son asked for help: “Mom, I want to come back to Hawaii. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford a home, especially if prices keep rising. Can we find something now, before prices go even higher?” Yvonne was fearless and diligent in pursuing homes we requested and others that she saw, which met our basic criteria. She even wrote letters directly to homeowners. With Yvonne's help, we did end up buying the absolute perfect starter home for our son, winning over 16 other offers. We were not the best price, but we had the best terms and the other realtor involved knew a transaction with Yvonne would be handled professionally, thoroughly, and would close, even amidst a pandemic! We already knew we are in good hands, but it is also nice to know that our agent Yvonne is respected in the community and someone who other agents also would like to work with.

- Buyer & Seller in Honolulu

Awards & Excellence in Oahu Real Estate